The difference between you and Rain Man?

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This was exactly my reaction. I strongly related to many of the more unusual abilities, but thought I couldn't possibly be autistic because I was not completely incapable of interacting with people. Only recently have I come to recognise that there are degrees of impairment.


Greentea, I offer a two-for-one blue-plate special - I'll describe my similarities as well as differences. Many of these "differences" are only in degree; others are more fundamental.

- I can only sight-count up to a couple of dozen objects, not 246, and this ability is markedly sharper on some days than others.
- My hypercalculia is not quite as extreme, but I do find mental arithmetic quite easy. This ability has declined noticeably with age.
- I can easily remember long strings of numbers as well as lots of random facts, but 1/4 of a phone book would take me just a tad more than one evening. This ability has increased with age.
- I have had three RainMan-worthy full-on meltdowns triggered by fire alarms; two of them following being blasted out of a sound sleep while in hotels; the other (and by far the worst) in my own home. It took over four terrifying minutes to neuter that sucker, and I didn't totally calm down until the next day.
- When at my first job, I kept a to-the-minute workday routine and really didn't take kindly to any disruptions no matter how small. After four years, this became so exhausting that I have never worked in a fixed-hours job since. Today, I have all manner of rituals, but no true routine. And the pancakes are permitted to arrive before the maple syrup.
- I like travel in just about any incarnation, preferring trains, bicycles, automobiles, airplanes and buses in that order (most days). Air travel would get a significant bump if the entire sensory assault scene called the airport were different, such as for private aviation.
- I do have a distinct preference for a very few television shows and seeing a small number of movies over and over.
- I am every bit as anxious as RainMan when someone starts rooting through my things.
- Overall, there is an enormous difference between my strong and weak abilities.
- I can function independently, but only if I keep my environment simple so it stays under control, and if I limit social interaction.
- And finally, my take on kissing is identical to RainMan's - it's wet. Very wet.

I am worse in some ways, and better in others. Luckily, the ways in which I am worse are merely closer to normal. I WISH I could count as fast, remember as well, or be as observant. Unfortunately, most people, that are THAT good, have more of rainman's problems.

I look better because I have a beautiful bald head.

Three million dollar difference topic

Alas, tis true.

Compared with others, here are things that they listed?

I know Don't Walk doesn't mean stop in the middle of the cross walk, but I can remember when I hesitated. Some cross walks don't even give enough time to RUN. Kind of crazy.

I understand money, and can't understand how rainman had such problems.

I am not a math savant. 8-(

My memory seems to be more episodic. If I experience something, even if it is a movie, I can remember a lot about it. Sadly, things like long numbers are much harder. And I wouldn't think about trying to memorize the average phone book.

I can make decisions fine.

I can drive a car *

I am not obsessed with sports, but HAVE been obsessed with some things. I am certainly not obsessed to the degree of rainman though. *

I am able to live on my own*

I can sight-count up to a perhaps a dozen objects, not 246, and this ability is markedly sharper on some days than others.

I seem to do mental arithmetic better than most, but that isn't saying much.

Fire alarms don't trigger meltdowns in me really, though some here might disagree. I have YELLED at people that seemed indifferent to such things, and threatened to use an air horn on THEM the next time they react that way. Luckily, that has never been tempted.*

My first job was simple and was one that I could physically handle better than most. My second was like putting together puzzles. My third was from an obsessive interest, so I didn't have TOO much trouble, until my boss pushed me TOO far. I guess 6am to 8pm for a 9am to 5pm job wasn't enough for him.

I kind of dislike travelling, and feel like rainman, butt push myself. NOW, it is more of a routine, than anything else.*

I do have a distinct preference for a very few television shows and seeing some movies over and over.

I am every bit as anxious as RainMan when someone starts rooting through my things.

Overall, there is an enormous difference between my strong and weak abilities.

At times, there is like a person in me that feels and would act kind off like rainman, but he is held at bay.*

* These are things that I might not have said if I didn't try to overcome or suppress various feelings. I feel almost like strangling people that come into my cube uninvited, stand over me while I have to do things, stand too close to me, etc.... Of course, I WOULDN'T strangle them, and don't even mention how I feel at first, but it is an example of how I am like rainman, and still separate myself from him. Despite what Daniel believes, personal pride, environment, and effort CAN make a BIG difference in how such symptoms manifest. And I am certainly NOT saying I have no symptoms, etc... I am not even saying a lot of it is easy. I am just saying that I used to be "worse", and had a tendency to be worse.

BTW outside of the deal like touching every post, perfect photographic memory, talking to psychiatrists, and lack of understanding of others, I am probably VERY similar to monk, though I hide it.

he seems like he has it really bad i saw that movie recently and was shoked on how he acted i never act like that im not that bad.
and he's savant im not that good with the interests i have..

I have a series of power point pics in a handbook I got in an Attwood seminar that had a graph of LFA, HFA, AS and NT. The graph started at birth and went on to 18 (like we all stop there!) LFA and HFA started on the same level with AS higher and NT higest of all on a long curve. promptly at around 18 months to three years the HFA line leaps up steeply to the AS line and runs on the same line as AS . .under the NT line, while LFA has a much lower curve with no changes. Of course the NT line is above all.

Attwood said of all the spectrum the HFA probably has the easiest time of it, because everyone thought they were going to be LFA, but they got 'better!' where as the AS is never an NT and the LFA is never a HFA.

if you followed that.

Merle

I'm probably closer to NT than to Raymond in terms of my ability to have conversations and interact with people. Emotionally I'm probably closer to Raymond than I am to an NT. When I watched the movie I remember being disturbed by the way Raymond was treated by his brother. He seemed condescending and had very limited patience/understanding for Raymond's problems/needs.

Yeah, the Tom Cruise character didn't have much 'theory of mind', did he.

Merle

i dont remember anything about this movie or even watching it, what was rain man like? was he obsessed with rain?

Selfish yuppie Charlie Babbitt's father dies and leaves a fortune -- to Raymond, the institutionalized savant brother that Charlie didn't know he had. They set out on a cross-country journey of discovery

His name is Raymond, and as a child his little brother Charlie called him 'Rainman'

Merle

The money wasn't truthfully given to raymond, but to some organization that was supposed to be taking care of him. Charlie had a struggling business that he hoped that money would save. Since he was cheated of EVERYTHING, he flipped, kidnapped raymond, and tried to get custody. He started out thinking raymond was an idiot, but seemed to grow somewhat fond of him.

Anyway, between those two things, his trip was frustrated by raymonds demands to not fly domestically(He WAS willing to fly quantas, because they never had a crash, but THEY only fly to australia!) and having to do things like watch wapner every day. He memorized a good part of a phone book, showed flassh counting, etc... and Charlie used raymond to count cards at a casino to make money. That is blown when raymond tells others what they're doing.

BTW As bad as raymond is, he DOES get better! He goes from someone that HAD to be institutionalized to someone that passes as normal for a little while, even if it IS very little. Have you ever been in a casino, or dealt with dealers? YIKES!

I can follow it. Personally, I think NT, HFA, and AS probably end at about the same level overall. None is particularly worse than the others. Even the WORST parts of HFA have similar equivalents with NTs. NTs simply consider them wierd.

I doubt 18 years is a time when ANY big changes occur. Yeahh, I can follow Attwoods reasoning about which has it easiest. If an HFA person isn't careful, or develops slowly, people may help them more, and they can be given a better chance. Meanwhile, people with AS may be seen as doing fine, or maybe like brats, and not given any help at all. Of course, LFA people, by the very name, as adults haven't improved much. If they do, then they are called HFA. Still, people don't expect much of LFA people, and may put them in classes that even they consider far too simple.

Lorna Wing says that the filmed depiction of Rain Man is a good representation of the aloof social behaviour in individuals with HFA (this is from a book on HFA):



She goes on in the book about the other types found in HFA, but she doesn't give examples of fictional depictions (it goes from Rain Man to near-normal that questions "disorder" and "normality", from severe HFA to mild in other words).

I enjoyed the film but I think a lot was lost for me as I found the character pretty 'normal' or 'regular' by my standards. Some of it was way overblown for sure as in the casino thing as I've done that and it's not as simple as the film made it seem. I think from my particular position that it was a fairly close depiction of somebody who would be classified as HFA without the savant overtones the film tried to play on.